


darkness takes another

by kylieren (kaerie)



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Dark, Dark Side Rey, Empress Rey, F/M, Scavenger Ben Solo, Sith Rey
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 05:06:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24059449
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaerie/pseuds/kylieren
Summary: Scavenger Benjamin Solo catches the eye of newly-crowned Empress Kira Ren and it is everything he couldn't have expected.
Relationships: Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 6
Kudos: 37





	darkness takes another

In hindsight, it was all Poe’s fault. 

It was him who brought the droid with him and upended Ben’s life in Jakku. It was him who tracked him down after years of successfully fleeing from his uncle’s ruined Jedi temple. It was him who roped Ben into his mission to find Luke for the dying resistance. All Ben could think about was his regrets and misplaced anger for Poe as he struggled against his bindings.

The torture chair felt stiff and he was uncomfortably leaning backwards and slipping at the same time. He grunted. Again, he cursed his childhood friend Poe, this kriffing chair, and the cursed bloodline that granted him his force abilities.

He liked to think that he improved managing his anger after all his time in Jakku, and likely would have descended into another fit of rage if it wasn’t for the hiss of the pneumatic door opening behind him, distracting him from his thoughts.

He steeled his mind and prepared to use the force to persuade the interrogator behind him. He wasn’t going to let them knock him out again. Ben was not prepared when he encountered the full force of the Knights of Ren when they were on a fuel stop in Maz’s castle on Takodana. He was successful in subduing three of the Knights, but one managed to get behind him and struck him on the head. 

Not again. 

As he closed his eyes, he felt soft and slender fingers curling onto his shoulder. “Finally,” a feminine voice with an Imperial accent says behind him. 

Ben shrugs off the hand from his shoulder. “ _Let me go_ ,” he says, imbuing his words with the unnatural command of the force.

A pregnant pause filled the room until his interrogator finally spoke. “You know that won’t work with me.”

He heard the swish of heavy robes as Ben opened his eyes and strained against the dim lighting of the room to see a small and slender hooded figure sitting in front of him. The harsh lighting cast shadows on a pale face, showing only thin lips and gaunt cheeks. He lifted his chin to the unknown figure. “Who are you?”, he asked.

“You don’t remember,” it replied.

His eyebrows scrunched in confusion. Ben had an ominous feeling. These were all strange things happening one after the other. His discovery on Jakku, his capture on Takodana, and now this very strange conversation on maker-knows-where. Who was this person? He felt a dark and powerful force signature whenever he concentrated on the stranger. It was also strangely familiar. A fellow padawan from his uncle’s temple? 

“You think too much,” they said.

He glared. “Most people do,” he answered. This was going terribly. First he couldn’t trick the person to do his bidding and now he realized they had the power to access his thoughts. Where was Poe? Where was his lightsaber?

“I have it,” the stranger replied and produced his lightsaber from their cloak.

“Give it back to me!” he yelled and struggled against his bindings. 

The stranger stood and set his saber down on their seat. A pale and fragile hand rose from their side and brushed the hood of the cloak off, revealing a feminine face. It was beautiful, with a thin nose and angular features but made harsh by the gauntness of her cheeks and an unhealthily pale complexion. What drew his eyes the most were piercing golden orbs gazing back at him.

He felt his body break into a cold sweat as he realized who this person was. Empress Kira Ren, the successor and murderer of former Emperor Palpatine. The one responsible for the galaxy-wide massacre of all remaining Jedi. One of the reasons why he was hiding in the hopeless wasteland called Jakku.

He thought himself fortunate for recognizing her. As far as he knew, there was only one official and existing photograph of the empress. Taken at her coronation, she was almost unrecognizable under heavy ceremonial makeup and an elaborate headdress that extended some generous inches from her shoulders. 

Her eyes broke the connection with Ben’s when she looked at the slowly dripping blood from his forehead. Her eyes narrowed. She looked down at him again. “Medics will tend to you on the transport ship to Supremacy.”

Ben gritted his teeth. “I’m not going with you!” Desperate, he pounded on the walls protecting her mind until he found purchase. Ben rifled through her memories,

_Cold wrinkled fingers dragging her painfully, lonely in her room mother mother, lightning coursing through her body foolish child!, following a dark haired boy padawan brother grasping hems, dragging sleeves, lonely cold lonely lonely lonely-_

“Stop!” she yelled at him, anger warping her features into something inhuman, terrifying. She was panting, body leaning towards his chair, hand tightly gripping one of the straps for balance. 

“You’re so lonely,” he whispered. Fear flickered on the Kira’s face before she quickly replaced it with cool calmness.

Seeing her memories did something to Ben. He felt shame for quickly recognizing loneliness when he saw it, but reassured that she wasn’t so unfamiliar after all.

Kira drew her hood over her head again and walked to the door behind him. “Enter,” she said and a stormtrooper handed her a pair of handcuffs. Force suppressing handcuffs, he recognized. He rested his head on the chair and resigned himself to his fate But he knew she wasn’t going to kill him. He felt that the empress wanted something from him, he just didn’t know which. 

She stood in front of him once again cupped his chin. “ _Sleep_ ,” she ordered, as her force abilities overwhelmed his defenses. 

Ben closed his eyes.

**Author's Note:**

> i know nothing much different is added from the canon interrogation scene but i just really love dark rey 
> 
> follow me on my sw twitter <3 : @kyliedreylo


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